She may be the best joke writer alive...

Celya AB shares her Perfect Playlist

French comedian Celya AB shares some of her comedy favourites.

Maria Bamford

I discovered Maria Bamford when I was a teenager back in France and was instantly captivated. Not only is her material very good, she’s also a master at modifying her voice to suit a punchline.

Her specials are always so original and she plays with the format a lot. I was lucky to support her on her tour in the UK recently and not only was she super-nice, her show immediately became one of my favourites I’ve ever seen. I think she’s incredible.

French! Elie Kakou: Les Profs, Les Inconnus, Bref/Bloques, French hip hop…

The first bits of comedy I consumed growing up were French, these included sketch trio Les Inconnus, character master Elie Kakou, the show Bref/Bloques and more traditional stand-up which came later.

I don’t watch French comedy as often as I used to but if I’m homesick I can spend hours rewatching old sketches. I listen to French hip hop a lot too - I think that rap can be incredibly close to joke writing and it’s always a nice lesson in word economy.

Peep Show

I must’ve seen Peep Show over five times. I LOVE the characters, the jokes, everything about it. I worked in a call centre years ago and once tried to quote as many lines from Peep Show over the phone in a day to keep me entertained.

I got to two because it was easier in theory.

Demetri Martin

Demetri’s style is so special and silly and smart and I absolutely love his drawings too. There’s a sensitivity to him/them that I can’t get enough of.

It ticks all the right boxes for me. Lovely off-beat one-liners that don’t take themselves seriously, with some silly ideas, all pretty feel-good stuff.

Documentary Now

I only found about Documentary Now in the last year and I was actually pretty annoyed I hadn’t before. It’s two of the funniest comedy actors/writers (Fred Armisen and Bill Hader) doing parodies of documentaries.

Each episode is a full doc and not only is it superbly written, I find myself forgetting they’re not actual documentaries and getting invested.

Fred Armisen’s SNL sketch History Of Punk is also one of my faves and SNL generally (That’s Just The Game with Chris Redd always gets me, Don’t Make Me Sing with Kristen Wig too).

Tig Notaro: Party Trick

I think about the dog party trick bit every couple weeks. She has this amazing quiet confidence that I love - her jokes are quite surreal and she is a real inspiration when it comes to storytelling. She’s absolutely brilliant.

[We couldn't find that routine online, but here's another...]

30 Rock/Anything Tina Fey

Tina Fey is my absolute favourite. I think she may be the best joke writer alive. The gag rate in all of her shows is insane, she’s not scared of being surreal and she is so good at imagery. Some people practice winning an Oscar, I’ve practised meeting Tina Fey and trying to act cool.